All over Florida and Arizona this spring, some of the best baseball players on the planet are essentially doing volunteer work in the service of cash-flush Major League organizations: Though spring training is a mandatory part of a player’s route to the Majors, minor leaguers do not get compensated for the seven-day weeks they work honing their skills in spring training. Though some top-flight international and domestic prospects receive seven-figure signing bonuses, the standardized salary scale for players in their first pro contracts means most of them make less than fast food workers earn on both an hourly and yearly basis, and less than the national minimum wage established by the Fair Labor Standards Act.

In 2016, two Congresspersons — both of whom received campaign donations from MLB’s PAC — introduced an MLB-supported bill called the “Save America’s Pastime Act” to exempt the league from the terms of the FLSA. Press materials supporting the bill suggested that paying minimum wage and overtime pay to minor leaguers would bankrupt beloved minor league teams, but Major League organizations pay the salaries of their minor-league players. One of the bill’s sponsors pulled her support for it after backlash over its misrepresented premise, and it ultimately went nowhere.

A massive government spending bill that Congress is expected to consider this week could include a provision exempting Minor League Baseball players from federal labor laws, according to three congressional officials familiar with the talks….

(Minor League Baseball president Pat) O’Conner said the litigation underway represents an existential threat to minor league clubs, which could see their business model upended if courts rule that players must be paid according to the federal Fair Labor Standards Act.

A minor league baseball player (PHOTO: Jasen Vinlove/USA TODAY Sports)

Former minor league pitcher turned attorney Garrett Broshuis, who is representing the players in the suit, spoke to For The Win by phone on Monday in the wake of the Washington Post report.

“They’re trying to back-door it into the spending bill,” he explained. “It’s all happening in secret, behind closed doors, so we have limited knowledge just like everyone else has limited knowledge.”

With no specifics on what’s to be included in the spending bill, Broshuis would not speculate about its potential impact on the future of the lawsuit. Minor league players, understandably, remain reluctant to attempt to unionize or even speak out on behalf of their wages. But salary growth in the minors over the past 40 years hasn’t even been nearly enough to account for inflation, and Broshuis says he knows players are keeping tabs on the litigation.

“I have players who routinely reach out to me,” he said. “They realize it’s a problem; this is not something that has developed overnight. It’s the result of MLB and teams ignoring minor leaguers for decades now, to the point where they are paying sub-minimum wages. It’s difficult for guys to rent an apartment and pay the bills. Guys realize something needs to be done, and they’re hopeful something will be done.”

An ongoing lawsuit first filed in 2014 aims to hold MLB to the Fair Labor Standards Act.

I found this on FTW and wanted to share:
%link%
For more great sports stories ...
*visit For The Win: https://www.ftw.usatoday.com
*follow @ForTheWin: https://www.twitter.com/forthewin
*like FTW on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/usatodayftw